View from the aeroplane the Australian landscape, gives idea of the reality of the country: much uninhabited fiel and just a single city. The monotonous landscape was filled with clouds as we headed more north, ending in a tropical storm full of lightning as if they were fireworks. We landed with a torrential rain. We took a taxi, We left the luggage at the hotel and even with these weather conditions we could not resist having the first contact with the city when it was already dusk. Cairns is a coastal city, star for the Great Barrier Reef and vacation spot for many Australians, although the natural beach is located 5 km from the city. On the coast of the city can not swim because the beach the sand becomes mud when it is exposed at low tide. To compensate, the City Council has created an artificial beach as a huge swimming pool: The Lagoon, which has all services including lots of barbecues for public use, pervasive in Australian society, coin operated

. The city is extremely well with large commercial galleries and porticoes, because in this tropical climate is almost constant rain and unpredictable. In the evening we were surprised to see huge numbers of bats, of size of a pigeon, which filled the sky, we wondering where they could go so many, the next day we discovered two mysteries at once: during the day these animals hanging from the tallest trees in the park and why people did not use the shade of those trees. How disgusting of excrement! The city town has elegant shops and beautiful hotels, which give a sense of being a wealthy city, so it is shocking to see so many posters that receive backpackers in modest pensions or hostels. For lunch there is a curious local Food Court, a number of restaurants for all tastes with a common room to taste the food. It's is like a buffet and when they finish some dishes will lower the price even reach 50% at the last minute. Another curiosity is that some restaurants have a sign “BYO” indicating that you can bring of home the alcoholic beverage. We made use, as we knew how expensive it was the wine (it costs as much as all the food) we carry supplies of wine bottles from Chile.You'll find more pictures and Cairns Guide at this link. Use the Google translator top of the page: http://mundoporlibre.com/2008/07/cairns-australia-da-12-de-marzo-08.html